Caves, Crystals, And The Unknown

Meet Davy’s naked-backed bat (Pteronotus davyi)! This species, which can be found in parts of Central and South America, preys mostly on moths and flies. It uses echolocation to hunt by night, and can detect prey as small as 0.08 in (0.2 cm) in size from nearly 2.46 ft (0.75 m) away in darkness. Often feeding above water, this bat also has the ability to drink on the go—a phenomenon known as “drinking on the wing.”

Lesser Dawn Bat Eonycteris spelaea

Also known as the cave nectar bat, it is found in primary forests and in disturbed and agricultural areas. It roosts in caves, in larger groups, with some roosts exceeding 50,000 individuals, and it sometimes roosts with other bat species. In some places, this species seems to have adapted well to leafy, semi-urban habitats. It is a very important pollinator of fruit trees, such as durians, and other commercially important crops such as banana and jackfruit.

It’s Bat Appreciation Day, so let’s get batty for our favorite flying mammals: bats! Bats are the second most diverse group of mammals after rodents. Twenty two percent of all mammal species are bats, with more than 1,450 species—and they live on every continent except Antarctica.